SWP Planning Passes Evaluation
interviewed Stanley Barnes (he has approved - 5/17/00)

Stanley Barnes remembers “taking the project study quite seriously.” That project was the 1955 Feather River Project. His job, as a member of the Bechtel consulting team, was to determine the physical, engineering and economic feasibility of the proposed system.

Just a few years out of graduate school but experienced from working on the Hetch Hetchy project, Barnes was one of about 20 engineers from Bechtel’s water resources section assigned to the huge task.

“The whole project was a rush to complete, but we had competent, excellent engineers and consultants,” Barnes says. Within three months the engineers had to examine the State Engineer’s proposal to determine if there were sufficient information about the hydraulics, hydrology, geology, and other design requirements to make reliable cost estimates of the proposed project.

“We had to establish if the project could be paid for by the agricultural and urban users,” he says.

Assumptions had to be made that regional conflicts and concerns would be settled and that the project would function as it was envisioned.

To complete the evaluation of “one of their most important water resources jobs,” Bechtel Corporation engaged its own consultants on geology, economics, water demands, financial analyses, acquisitions, and relocation of facilities.

The project was declared sound in terms of engineering and economic aspects. Bechtel stated their estimates ran 3 to 9 percent higher than the State Engineer’s on certain proposed routes, that the project could be funded by general obligation bonds and supported by the users, and that there was a demand for water equal or greater than estimated by DWR.

“Our figures were a little more conservative,” says Barnes, “but what it amounts to is the Department did a good job in designing the project.”

About eight years later, Barnes moved on to serve as the water manager for Boswell Company and from 1983-99 served on the California Water Commission. Both positions brought him back into contact with the Department. He sat on the board of directors of the State Water Contractors for Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District and reviewed DWR projects as a Water Commissioner.

He is still active as a part-time consulting engineer.